This proposed vertical city in the desert has everything from indoor parks to a shopping mall

Tower of Sand is a vertical city proposal for the Sahara desert by French designers OXO Architects and Nicolas Laisné Associés. Rising 1,476 feet and boasting a total floorspace of 192 acres, the building’s sustainable design calls for an advanced rainwater collection system that would inject the precious liquid miles underground where the earth’s heat would turn it into steam which would then be used to power a generator that supplies the tower with heat and electricity. Additional power would come from solar panels, naturally.

Besides the arguably far-fetched power supply system, the proposal also includes hotel and residential units, a shopping center, conference rooms, spa, swimming pool, museum, a bar and restaurant, helicopter landing pads, a weather observatory and a collection of gardens and green spaces that would be sheltered from the unrelenting desert sun.

Could such a thing ever be built? OXO Architects’ “ongoing study” imagines a multi-phase construction project that could begin as early as 2025 and be completed by 2075.